Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-08-04
or twenty deer feeding on that wheat

or twenty deer feeding on that wheat
! next the mountain, until the ground
| was perfectly bare of green. The next
spring those wheat roots that seemed
dead revived and sprang up thick
growth that looked like wheat, but
when harvest came. there on that soil
was the heaviest crop of cheat ever
saw, and not head of wheat. On the
other side of the field where it was not
fed off, the wheat was just splendid,
with no cheat. Yes, sir, / believe that
wheat will turn to cheat when the
crown or bud of the VIII eat is bitten of
down close to the ground that in the
place of wheat you find lot of spind-
ling stocks come up and the tops COW
cred with cheat.
And now about the drOuth. AS
have stated, in former article. the
year 1888 was the worst drouth ever
saw in any country, and yet this coun-
try was nothing but one vast forest
not one tree cut to millions standing.
The first time crossed those great t,
vast prairies in the State of Illinois,
where. for miles and miles, you saw
nothing but one unbroken sea Of green;
NOT house, not field, not a tree to
obstruct the view; - there were no
more signs or complaints of drouths,
by the few inhabitants that were scat
tered around the edges of those vast
nv os,inc OF
Take this past and present season: we
read of whole counties where the
streams are all dried up and the fish
all dead, the cattle dying for the lack
of water, and yet that country Is now
covered with beautiful groves of tim.
Der. large orchards, and yet no rain.
When the Iron Mountain and Arkan-
sas Railroad was being built south from
Ironton, and the engineers were locat.
ing the bridge across Stout's Creek, /
said to Mr.. Homan, the engineer-"I
am afraid you are not giving sufficient
room for the water to pass in some of
those great freshets we have on this
creek" He said. "sit down, and will
tell you how we know how much room
it will take to carry the water. First,
we take view of the country and its
confguration. There are certain nat
ural. fixed laws which we have to learn.
About SO many inches or feet of water
fall in the course of the year. Now
where country is new, and the earth
covered with heavy growth of tim
ber, and the watercourses abstructed
with brush and trees, both fallen aud
when the heavy rains come
all these trees and brush make dams
which hold the water back and spread it
out over the country, and it hes time
to sink down in the earth, SO that the
earth is stored full of water in reserve
SO that plapts can draw fram its foun-
tains during the period of no rain. AS
soon as the country is cleared up, and
all the creeks are cleared of brush and
trees. SO that the water passes off quick
ly, it will fill up all the deep places In
the creeks, SO that there will be no res
ervois to hold moisture for the hot air
to draw upon, and the country will be
subject to severe freshets and washouts,
followed by drouths." And do we not
find it 40? And nov the only remedy
that / can see is to make the ground
rich and cultivate thoroughly; keep
the ground free from weeds. I have
heard the greatest drawback with
most farmers to be that they want to
put in too many acres-more than they
can properly cultivate.
In conclusion, will refer "E.n to
the thirty-eighth chapter OF Job. See
what God says about the matter.
July 3Oth, 1857. r. p. RUSSELL.